About poodles

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Whether Standard, Miniature, or Toy, and either black, white, or apricot, the Poodle stands proudly among dogdom’s true aristocrats. Beneath the curly, hypoallergenic coat is an elegant athlete and companion for all reasons and seasons

  • Temperament: Active, Proud, Very Smart 
  • AKC Breed Popularity: Ranks 7 of 193 
  • Height: 10-15 inches (miniature), over 15 inches (standard) 
  • Weight: 10-15 pounds (miniature), 60-70 pounds (male standard), 40-50 pounds (female standard) 
  • Life Expectancy: 10-18 years 
  • Group: Non-Sporting Group      

Forget those old stereotypes of Poodles as sissy dogs. Poodles are eager, athletic, and wickedly smart “real dogs” of remarkable versatility. The Standard, with his greater size and strength, is the best all-around athlete of the family, but all Poodles can be trained with great success.

General Appearance: Carriage and Condition - That of a very active, intelligent and elegant appearing dog, squarely built, well proportioned, moving soundly and carrying himself proudly. Properly clipped in the traditional fashion and carefully groomed, the Poodle has about him an air of distinction and dignity peculiar to himself. Proportion - To insure the desirable squarely built appearance, the length of body measured from the breastbone to the point of the rump approximates the height from the highest point of the shoulders to the ground. 

Color: The coat is an even and solid color at the skin. In blues, grays, silvers, browns, cafe-aulaits, apricots and creams the coat may show varying shades of the same color. This is frequently present in the somewhat darker feathering of the ears and in the tipping of the ruff. While clear colors are definitely preferred, such natural variation in the shading of the coat is not to be considered a fault. Brown and cafe-au-lait Poodles have liver-colored noses, eye-rims and lips, dark toenails and dark amber eyes. Black, blue, gray, silver, cream and white Poodles have black noses, eye-rims and lips, black or self colored toenails and very dark eyes. In the apricots while the foregoing coloring is preferred, liver-colored noses, eye-rims and lips, and amber eyes are permitted but are not desirable. Major fault: color of nose, lips and eye-rims incomplete, or of wrong color for color of dog. Parti-colored dogs shall be disqualified. The coat of a parti-colored dog is not an even solid color at the skin but is of two or more colors

Gait: A straightforward trot with light springy action and strong hindquarters drive. Head and tail carried up. Sound effortless movement is essential. Temperament: Carrying himself proudly, very active, intelligent, the Poodle has about him an air of distinction and dignity peculiar to himself.

Ranked second most intelligent dog breed just behind the Border Collie,[4] the poodle is skillful in many dog sports and activities, including agility, obedience, tracking to herding, circus performers and assistance dogs.

Traditionally the Standard Poodle, the largest of the breed, was a retriever or gun dog, used in particular for duck hunting and sometimes upland bird hunting.  The breed has been used for fowl hunting in the US and Canada since the early 1990s, in and out of hunting tests.  The modern Standard retains many of the traits prized by their original owners: a keen working intelligence that makes the dog easy to command, webbed feet that make it an agile swimmer (all of the poodle's ancestors and descendants had or share the love of water) athletic stamina, and a moisture-resistant, curly coat that acts like a wool jumper in damp conditions. Hunting poodles typically are dogs with lightning quick reflexes, sprinting like a demon after the downed bird and having a prodigious ability to remember where the bird fell and a decent nose to sniff and track a bird hiding in tall grass. Recently,  Miniature Poodles have also begun to be added to the list of hunters in the field

Poodles are bred in a variety of sizes, distinguished by adult shoulder (withers) height. Standard 19-24 inches, Moyan's 14-18 inches, Miniature 11-14 inches, Toys 9-11 inches

Coat

Unlike most dogs which have double coats, poodles have a single layer coat (no undercoat is present) composed of dense, curly hair considered hypoallergenic .Poodles are to matting without proper care.  Texture ranges from coarse and woolly to soft and wavy. Poodle show clips require many hours of brushing and care per week, about 10 hours/week for a Standard Poodle. Poodles are usually clipped down into lower-maintenance cuts as soon as their show careers are over. Pet clips are much less elaborate than show and require much less maintenance. A pet owner can anticipate grooming a poodle every six to eight weeks. Attention must be paid to a poodle's ears, because unlike some other breeds hair grows in their ears.  They should be cleaned religiously with a solution and if at all shaved off, so that earwax buildup does not accumulate and moisture does not take hold, both causing infection. 

The Poodle has a wide variety of coloring, including white, black, brown, parti, silver, gray, silver beige, apricot, red, cream, sable, and patterns such as phantom and brindle.

Poodle crossbreds (also called hybrids) are not recognized by any major breed registry, as crossbreds are not one breed of dog, but two. If both parents are registered purebreds but of different breeds, it is still not possible to register a puppy as two different breeds.